This was Autumn Heather’s reaction when she heard the three key factors that seem to foster exceptional mental growth in what I refer to as the genius study. (see below for details).
The results of the study concluded with three factors common to the childhoods of 20 geniuses (not just geniuses, but those who contributed greatly to society):
1. A high degree of attention focused upon the child by parents and other adults, expressed in intensive educational measure and, usually, abundant love.
When people learned that I homeschooled my children, many reacted with: “That must be a lot of work.”
Yep. Nurturing souls and minds call for a high degree of attention.
2. Isolation from peers, especially outside the family.
Children are not the best role models for children. Being homeschooled isolated my children from their peers to an extent, though they never had any problems socializing with peers or adults.
The third factor is a direct result of the previous two--
3. A rich efflorescence of fantasy as a reaction to the preceding conditions.
Definition:
-efflorescence -- a bursting forth or flowering-fantasy -- the faculty or activity of imagining things, especially things that are impossible or improbable
Here is a small smattering of pictures that demonstrate this, though from talking to my children I know that much of the fantasy they experienced while growing up could never be photographed or quantified.
Lots of dressing up--
Chase with birthday cape and bow and arrows--
(remember this cape)
Mouse Chase on bike and pioneer Autumn Heather--
Hal IV used a magic lamp to ask a Mary S. to a church prom--
Jasmyn didn't just dress up at the Scandia mascot,
she played the part of a pelican-riding Viking--
.JPG)
I never knew which century or dimension Giselle would be dressed in from day to day--
Autumn Heather as Mulan--
.JPG)
Hal IV cowboy--
Amber and Jasmyn dressed up on their own during the Colonial Escapade school year--
Pre-teen Amber and Jasmyn dressed up almost every day in their colonial dresses.
They awoke before dawn to milk their pretend cows,
and do their chores before school began--
The gift of fantasy has meant more to me than my talent for absorbing positive knowledge.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/a/alberteins112024.html#biypDQ1gXk3rqDHG.99
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/a/alberteins112024.html#biypDQ1gXk3rqDHG.99
The gift of fantasy has meant more to me than my talent for absorbing positive knowledge.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/a/alberteins112024.html#biypDQ1gXk3rqDHG.99
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/a/alberteins112024.html#biypDQ1gXk3rqDHG.99
Plays, ballets, and other performances--
“The gift of fantasy has meant more to me
than my talent for absorbing positive knowledge.”
Albert Einstein
Jasmyn was always orchestrating some kind of entertainment for the family.
Rapunzel, with Amber, cousins Shelley and Collette, Hal IV, Jasmyn--
.JPG)
Backyard Independence Day performance by the Bradley and other neighborhood kids--
Jasmyn's ballet--Revenge of the Kadishaw--
(She talked 12-year-old boys into participating!)
.JPG)
Jasmyn and Amber perform A Couple of Swells, from Easter Parade--
Chase--wearing that cape he got for his 4th or 5th birthday--
and I perform a dialogue from The Court Jester--
"I am craven and thou art my master."
Giselle and Autumn Heather performed puppet shows for days--
Pretending--
“If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales.
If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.”
Albert Einstein
Autumn Heather and Giselle playing store. (The sign reads "welcome" in Danish)--
Autumn Heather, Giselle and Chase make pies in an elaborate mud-pie factory--
One day I came home from shopping to find the entire house transformed into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Jasmyn dressed up as Beatrix Lestrange--
Cousin Arden and Autumn Heather play Primary,
complete with wooden spoon microphone--
Chase, Autumn Heather, and Giselle and their box houses--
Jasmyn and Amber trekked around the block with their wheelbarrow handcart,
(this was years before our pioneer school year)--
Giselle milks her cow--
Hal IV and Chase played endless hours with various stick weapons,
and sometimes the girls got into the action too--
Autumn Heather attempts to make a mask for her Phantom of the Opera party--
Giselle slept in this teepee a few years after our American girl school year--
Hal IV, friend Eldon, and Chase play in a snow fort--
Giselle visits Autumn Heather's ballet studio--
Definition:
-fantasy -- an idea about doing something that is far removed from normal reality.
Children are naturally playful, but the key is to keep our playfulness into adulthood if you want to create--
George Washington hair--
wrestling with Dad--
Autumn Heather and boyfriend--
Chase at the park--
Hal and giant bubbles--
.JPG)
Autumn Heather with the camera
Jasmyn found a way to sing into her microphone while cleaning the kitchen--
Autumn Heather, Katy Pearl, Giselle
(Jasmyn started the seaweed goddess craze years ago.)--
Autumn Heather-Who and Jasmyn Summer-Who
Hal IV showing me how he would dress in the Sahara?--
Jasmyn pirate--
Nerdy pirates--
Potato Heads--Autumn Heather, Giselle, and Chase--
Hal IV plays in the hailstorm--
.JPG)
Autumn and Amber and Pringles--
.JPG)
Jasmyn's goofy-faces pictures over a few years--
Directions: point a digital camera toward you;
make continuous goofy faces until the camera clicks;
look and laugh at the photo. Repeat.
.JPG)
Hal IV and Chase's birthday goatees--
The efflorescence of fantasy overflowsed around here--
Naaman, Captain of the host of the king of Syria, with leprosy.
I substituted for seminary on the first day of Old Testament seminary,
and made sure all the kids knew I had leprosy while shaking their hands--
An interesting observation by Dr. McCurdy, the originator of the genius study:
"It might be remarked that the mass education of our public school system is, in its way, a vast experiment on the effect of reducing all three of the above factors to minimal values, and should, accordingly, tend to suppress the occurrence of genius."
Yep.
("The Childhood Pattern of Genius” by Dr. Harold G. McCurdy is cited in a tape by Reed Benson, son of Ezra Taft Benson-- “Private Schools: Seedbed for Greatness.”
More here: The Childhood Pattern of Genius)
More here: The Childhood Pattern of Genius)
No comments:
Post a Comment